This blog explores a family history search. It addresses genealogy, Jewish heritage travel and artwork. It has taken the author to Belarus, the Ukraine and Poland where she visited her ancestral towns as well as Lithuania where she studied Yiddish at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute. As the author is both an artist and a genealogist, the blog also addresses her artwork related to her family and cultural history.

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Exploring Jewish Radom

We began today with a visit to the USC, the governmental office which has vital records for the past 100 years. Dvora was interested in getting her birth record and that of her brother. People who can prove their parent was born in Poland may be able to obtain a Polish passport enabling them easier access to European Union countries. Dvora’s experience was quite smooth because she speaks the language and within an hour we had secured the birth records for both.

Our next stop was the archive which holds records that are over 100 years old. We secured a number of identity papers for family members. When we had been at the Warsaw genealogy office of the Jewish Historical Institute, we had obtained lists of family members who had been in the ghetto and completed identity papers. Many of the papers were accompanied by photographs.

Using JRI-Poland.org I had been able to locate indexes of many records on Dvora’s family that included her great-grandmother’s birth record and her grandparents’ marriage record. We found the Book of Residents which included her family. The Book of Residents lists the residents by family along with parents’ names and various events in their lives that required official notation. My ability to decipher Russian Cyrillic came in handy and we were able to leave with the records on my list.

Our tasks accomplished, our touring now began in earnest. Dvora’s niece had secured a van to take us to different locations and we began with a chronological history. We started at Dvora’s childhood home and concluded with a visit to her home in the ghetto. We visited the area of the former forced labor camp and I asked Dvora if she ever received any compensation as the Austrian company that ran the weapons factory still exists. She replied that a few years ago she received a very small sum.

We then stopped at her former school which is now an apartment building. She was pleased to see that a plaque on the history of the school adorned the door. We entered the building and I was struck by the worn stone steps on which so many students had walked.

We stopped by the Resursa to see the artwork and photos being hung for our show. At Dvora’s request we planned another visit to the cemetery and Jakub once again secured the key to the cemetery for us. Again we said the Kaddish, the prayer for the dead, now with this enlarged group of family and friends. It felt especially important to Dvora to have her family with her in this place.

We also did a brief stop at the site of the old synagogue. Throughout the day we had several videographers in our group recording Dvora’s stories in the related locations. Hopefully some will turn out to be useable as filming in a vehicle or on the street has its challenges. Dvora told some stories that I had heard from her previously, but they took on an added resonance when told on the site in which they occurred.

One more day in Radom, but a jam packed one. Tomorrow we give our talk at the Resursa to high school students, then an opening in the evening and we reconnect with our Polish friends from our prior visit.

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Welcome

Welcome to this blog. In these pages I address the issues that are of deep interest to me. I take you on my travels to Eastern Europe, my observations about the former and present Jewish communities in those countries and the response of those countries to their history. I capture this in both words and artwork and frequently share my artwork in these pages. In addition I address my genealogy research based on family who originated in many of the places I explore. This has been a process of discovery for me and I invite you to join me on this journey.

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About Me

Susan Weinberg researches, paints and writes about family, cultural and community history. Her family history interests and travel frequently inform her artwork.
Susan writes of her travel to ancestral towns throughout Eastern Europe and her artwork based on those communities.
Susan has exhibited her artwork nationally and internationally. Her most recent body of work is the Jewish Identity and Legacy project, a project which includes oral history and art creation. Based in Minneapolis-St Paul, Susan creates artwork and does genealogy consulting. She speaks frequently on her artwork and genealogy topics. She maintains two blogs, Layers of the Onion with a family history and art focus and Creative Connections on the Minneapolis Jewish Artists' Lab.